I spot his backpack from rush hour traffic.
He takes his time getting to the car. Stows his gear
in the back seat like he's done it a million times.
Young, long hair, and light beard. With a story.
He's going to camp on the reservation.
To sleep and dream for weeks deep in caves.
Strange shadows play about his eyes and cheeks
as he speaks about the fear people feel on the road.
That fear that stalks you in the middle
of nowhere. No food, nothing but concrete, hurtling tons
of steel, ugly stares. A thousand miles each way.
In the caves, he wants to see those dreams the dark
of the earth brings. To find the animal that shifts
shape endlessly and has a human face.
It looks at you with your own eyes, speaks in your
own voice, and lulls you to sleep in its embrace
of self-desire, habit, and the dread of freedom.
In its embrace you must die continually to life,
admit you do not know who you are, and then
mold a self from the empty mirror that is its eyes.
When I let him out, I wish him luck in his quest.
He barely replies. The comfort of custom and habit
must sound hollow in his ears, and I think
he believes I don't understand, for what's luck
got to do with facing death and its beyond?
(c) copyright 2012 Charles David Miller. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Young Guru Hitching
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Charles, another fantastic example of your wicked pen at work. I can see him on the road side, feel the weight of his silence as he walks the roads alone. I've seen many young men released from a sweat... where they entered as child and returned as men...Never doubt the answers the cave can hold, Just a wonderful weave that has lit my own pen. Thank you!
ReplyDeletereally cool charles...i can relate not only with the boy in the back and his young ideals but also to the narator as well...i hope he finds the caves what he is seeking and not just another romanticized past that surely had to be better than this...simple life is not so easy as often portrayed...
ReplyDeleteAnother fabulous poem ...like Tash, I could just picture him standing there at the side of the road. I can relate with the dread of freedom, the difficulty in just living...very fine work.
ReplyDeleteso very cool...i just love talking to people like him...that are somehow dance to their own drum, exploring the wide and height and depth...you brought him alive charles...loved it
ReplyDeleteSet out to explore one way or another. The freedom that comes isn't always as easy as it looks to be. Truly captured the moment, great job!
ReplyDeleteYou had quite a conversation in that probably short time in the car. Many young people seem to be convinced that you make your own luck. I'm not so sure. Wishing somebody good luck is in a way a bit of a prayer. I wouldn't mind being wished it. Showing my age?
ReplyDeleteInteresting post you are giving us today.
my post for tonight
A strong, rich narrative poem, Charles-- I loved "To find the animal that shifts
ReplyDeleteshape endlessly and has a human face."-- isn't that something we all try to locate in the inner/outer cave? xxxj
This was lovely. I can sure understand the young guru's desire to stay in the cave. Like Brian says that's not always easy, but thought no longer young, and definitely not a guru, I love solitude and somehow feel I can commune best with spirit when I am alone and silent.
ReplyDeleteI hope he finds the answers to what he's seeking in those caves. I wonder though if he didn't really ought to be looking inside himself rather than going down into the earth, who knows. I love the way you view others and this world Charles.
ReplyDeleteVery very cool chaz- loved the line about having to die in life to be truly free...if only we could all let let go like this- I wish I could - this just flowed effortlessly - like you didnt even have to try. This poem isn't just about a hitchhiker- its about us- all of us - and how we can REALLY live- if we just let go...fine fine fine write
ReplyDeleteLove it! It scans so beautifully too! Each word fits so perfectly in it's place x
ReplyDeleteAh, the fearlessness of youth...I still remember it. Excellent work, my man!
ReplyDelete(By the way--your text is rather faint and hard to read--maybe something to do with how it blends into your background color. You might try posting your stuff in bold, which is what I often do to make it more readable.)
Love this, Charles:
ReplyDelete"admit you do not know who you are, and then
mold a self from the empty mirror that is its eyes"
It's all very Kerouacian, with a hint of darkness - and very awesome.
ReplyDeleteSound scary and a bit like a shaman, before he journeys out into the mountains or a gave to untie with nature. Great Job.
ReplyDeletehttp://leah-jamielynn.typepad.com/blog/2012/04/only-god-knows.html
A poem to live with. Understanding the spirit animal and the cave is given to few you meet on the road, though you can find people searching for everything else--as the old saying goes, everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die. As always, your words seem effortlessly to sketch in deeper and deeper colors to each phrasing, the way Impressionists suggest the blurring of bright light. So, you're going to publish all these for me to keep on my nightstand when?
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest cave is right inside the mind, whether on freeway, in back of car, or wilderness--of course, we find a lot of distractions out here! Very thoughtful. K.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great story in so few words. Loved it.
ReplyDeleteSuch details and superb characterization in such a short span of verse. You are good with the pen. I would have kept on reading, but you stopped writing. Excellente!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIn their younger days, my philosophical hubby and his friend would leave the city and go up the mountain for a weekend. For them it was a journey, both internal and external.
ReplyDeleteI specially love these lines:
In its embrace you must die continually to life,
admit you do not know who you are, and then
mold a self from the empty mirror that is its eyes.
An inevitable expression of our mortality we engage life and the world beyond, very interesting and engaging pen ~ Rose
ReplyDeleteA great study in contrasts - the weathered and world-weary narrator and the young man out to prove something to the world. Each brings out the highlights in the other, and the reader comes away with a sense that they are, in a sense, two sides to the same coin that has each face in a different stream of time.
ReplyDeleteI love the ending comment here, so powerful a concept. The notion of hitchhiking presents a myriad of thoughts, from philosophy of distance to subversive behavior. Fear definitely plays a big part, I have to think for both parties, probably especially for the one providing this stranger entry into his domain. The hitcher has to have some sense of fear, yet I believe it's lesser than the driver. This notion I have to subversive behavior is nicely illustrated in your description of the long hair and light beard--spanning time here, long hair at one point was the epitome of deviancy, not so much in the nineties and the better part of this century, but I somewhat think this identification is growing as such again. The light beard though, is something of the rebel kind. Beards in general carry their own connotations, but light beard, that, to me, echoes the idea of uncertainty, not sure if you want to go the whole way, or turn back to clean shaven-very emblematic of a sense of fear. This notion is carried forward, shadows and stares, ugly to boot. Caves, animals, shapeshifters- uncertainty of identity. Anyhow, without going on much longer, which I can, breaking this fine piece down to it's many layers, I'll just end by saying that I love this piece. Thanks Charles.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed Mr C..that ancient quest that still is sought..the journey, the cave, especially the cave, which throws up myriad associations..cool contrasting narratives, or two sides to the same, the young man could so easily now be the driver, speaking to his old lost self, that entered and exited the cave from different 'doorways' ~ 'dread of freedom' hmmmmmmm
ReplyDelete..Miss K-a
Youth on its quest with that ever so frightening concept of freedom. And it sounds as if the young man is finding not only some answers, but more questions...on his journey. The young man is all of us, I think at any age. As if you picked up a hitcher who could be the shadow of you, all of us. The caves hold bright answers perhaps, but also terrors..doubts and shape shifting. I love this poem, Chazzy...deep, dark, hopeful...questioning...all of it ... just love it!
ReplyDeleteI think this tells a good story, a glimpse into someone's life who looking to learn and explore. Well done.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I just found your blog recently. I like what I've read so far.
A passing few moments in time superbly captured.
ReplyDeleteI hope the on the journey the searcher finds not empty caves but meaning and answers.
Wicked cool write.
ReplyDeleteI love how you've circumscribed the young man's quest, I read the entire piece a few times but reread that section a couple more. My brother was fortunate enough to go on a vision quest at 13; this poem brought back many deeply personal memories about my connection with him at that time. Thank you for this and your understanding of the intent behind my poetry.
ReplyDeletehe lives on a totally different wave length than we
ReplyDelete